Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, z”tl: A Personal Remembrance

Nov 15, 2020 by Elkan Levy

By Elkan D. Levy

 

King David’s lament, “Do you not know that a prince and a great man in Israel has fallen this day” encapsulates for so many of us our feelings of loss at the death of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Henry Sacks, z”tl.

Brilliant, erudite, articulate to the ultimate degree, Rabbi Sacks was undoubtedly one of the most exceptional Chief Rabbis to hold that title in any country at any time. He spanned intellectually both the world of Judaism and the world of secular scholarship. He was a polymath in an age of specialization, at home in a surprising range of interests.

The friend of a wide spectrum of political and religious leaders, he was at the same time the moral conscience of his own nation’s citizens and many others beyond its shores. It was to him that the media turned first for a view on matters affecting the country. At Rabbi Sacks’s farewell banquet when he retired from his post, Prince Charles said that the Chief Rabbi’s guidance on any given issue “has never failed to be of value and deeply grounded in the kind of wisdom that is increasingly hard to come by.”

Changed Course

Born in London in 1948, Jonathan Henry Sacks was the eldest of four boys born to Louis and Libby Sacks. After winning the top prize at the Finchley Synagogue Hebrew classes (his name is still on the board as a prizewinner), he proceeded to Cambridge with no idea of entering the rabbinate. Rather, he secured a first-class degree in philosophy. But the summer of 1967, which he spent in America discussing philosophy with academics and rabbis, culminated in a life-changing meeting with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, z”tl. As a result, the young British scholar altered his direction and became one of the very greatest rabbinic leaders of our time.

He received smicha from Jews’ College (the rabbinical seminary of the United Synagogue) and London’s Etz Chaim Yeshiva.

One day in Cambridge, he spotted a young woman he later recalled as “radiating joy.” The attraction was mutual, and three weeks later he went down on one knee at Oxford Circus and proposed. In 1970, he married Elaine Taylor, who brought to the marriage a consciousness of the real world, order, and joy. He once described marriage as “the thing that weaves two lives together and makes of them a grace none of us can ever make alone.” They had three children, Joshua, Dina, and Gila.

Growing Reputation

His first pulpit was at the Golders Green Synagogue, which he served as spiritual leader from 1978 to 1982, the same year he was awarded his doctorate from the University of London. In 1983, he assumed that position at central London’s prestigious Marble Arch Synagogue, a post he held until 1990, combined with serving as Principal of Jews’ College.

Already developing a reputation as an independent thinker, Rabbi Sacks was invited by the BBC in 1990 to give the prestigious Reith Lectures, a series of annual radio talks, commissioned by the BBC and given by leading figures to advance public understanding and debate about significant issues of contemporary interest.

By 1991, his appointment as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth was almost a foregone conclusion. In that post, Rabbi Sacks built upon the achievements of his predecessor, Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits, z”tl, and reinforced the Chief Rabbinate as one of the senior offices in the UK, the Great Offices of State.

Controversies

Recognizing that the shifting sands of intra-communal politics are never easy to navigate, Rabbi Sacks, a man of the utmost integrity, was not always at ease or particularly deft in dealing with them. He sometimes found it difficult to understand that not everyone played by his rules and that a Chief Rabbi cannot always please all wings of the religious community.

When the leading head of the British-Reform movement, Rabbi Hugo Gryn, died in 1996, the absence of the Chief Rabbi from the funeral produced an outburst of fury from supporters of that faction, which was partly assuaged by a memorial meeting at which Rabbi Sacks paid tribute to his friend. To justify his actions, Rabbi Sacks then wrote a letter of explanation to the ultra-Orthodox community in which he criticized the Reform movement. Rabbi Sacks believed the letter would remain confidential, but it was immediately leaked to the public and, as a result, further exacerbated tensions.

Rabbi Sacks was a prolific writer, with 35 books at the last count and innumerable articles to his credit. In “The Dignity of Difference,” written as a response to the 9/11 outrages, he declared his admiration for other religions and accepted that each was in its way a worthy approach to the Almighty for its own followers. A storm of criticism arose from the right wing in the Jewish community, and a second edition was rapidly produced with the offending words excised.

Tremendous Achievements

These quibbles, however, pale in significance to his tremendous achievements as a communicator and a writer, both as Chief Rabbi and after his retirement, when he was recognized as Chief Rabbi Emeritus.

He was particularly interested in young people and devoted much time to visiting schools and universities, where his presence made a significant impact on the younger generation.

He was the first rabbi to have a monthly column in the Credo section of The Times, and to broadcast regularly on the BBC’s “Thought for The Day.” Using these and other outlets, including his pre-Rosh Hashanah and pre-Pesach programs on television, as well as his many books, he greatly influenced British society. His admirers were people of all faiths and none, including both extremes of the political, religious, and cultural spectrum, and his influence spread well beyond the Jewish world.

Relatable Style

Rabbi Sacks had the ability, both in the written word and in his speeches, to inspire, to explain complex ideas with lucidity, and to make his audience relate to the truths he was teaching. His books were widely read, and he used the medium of video to reach out to an audience far larger and widespread than was open to any previous religious leader. The collections of religious music that he produced on CD appealed to all ages and faiths, and he was listened to by Jews and non-Jews who otherwise would have been uninterested in what an Orthodox rabbi had to say.

The lyrics to the song, “You Want It Darker,” the last piece by the late Leonard Cohen, one of Rabbi Sacks’s favorite musicians and composers, provided the basis for a November 2016 insightful and moving commentary by the rabbi as it relates to the Torah portion of “Vayera,” which, ironically, was the parsha read on the Shabbat on which Rabbi died.

It is no wonder his books and articles were read by politicians and royalty. Four British Prime Ministers sought his advice and made clear they regarded his words as expressing the moral conscience of the country.

Stanmore Accords

I had the privilege and honor of working closely with Rabbi Sacks when I served as president of the United Synagogue, the largest synagogue body in the UK (62 congregations and 40,000 members), from 1996 to 1999, and subsequently as chairman of the Singer’s Prayer Book Publication Committee, which authorized the daily siddur of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.

Rabbi Sacks and I would meet every week or so for a breakfast discussion which often ranged well beyond the strict agenda of communal business. We dealt with a variety of communal problems and marked a number of achievements.

We founded two Jewish Day Schools; Rabbi Sacks was always passionate about education.

Together, we went to the funeral of Princess Diana in 1997. This was on a Shabbat, and we walked from his home to St. James’s Palace. I vividly remember following the royal family behind the cortege, and, as we walked, reciting Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd,” in Hebrew.

In 1998, in the aftermath of the friction following Rabbi Gryn’s funeral, we worked together on the agreement known as The Stanmore Accords, which regulated relationships between various factions of the Jewish community.

Koren-Sacks Siddur

In 2006, it was decided that a new edition of the standard Siddur needed to be published to meet the needs of Anglo Jewry. Edited and annotated by Rabbi Sacks, who produced its commentary and a new, modern translation of the ancient liturgy, it is the only diaspora Orthodox siddur that includes prayers for the state of Israel, its soldiers, and national holidays. It also includes prayers for women to recite when they return to synagogue after giving birth and prayers to be recited upon the birth of a daughter.

Those of us who served on the committee were convinced that Rabbi Sacks could write faster than we could read!

Produced in a distinctive green binding, the new edition in due course developed into the Koren-Sacks Siddur which today is used all over the world. Ultimately, he wrote the Koren Machzorim, prayer books for all the festivals.

A Jew and a Mensch

All his books are filled with aphorisms that convey vast meaning, but two that he told me personally are “non-Jews respect Jews who respect Judaism” and the brief but pithy “Yiddishkeit demands menschlichkeit.”

It is by this imperative that he lived his life. He was the Jew par excellence and the mensch par excellence, combining within himself the very best of Jewish and secular culture and manners.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Henry Sacks was unique, truly sui generis. We will not see his like again.